Meghalaya CM wins by-election, defeats Congress
Tura (Meghalaya), Aug 27 : Meghalaya Chief Minister and National Peoples Party (NPP) candidate Conrad Sangma on Monday won the by-election from the South Tura Assembly constituency by a huge margin.
But former Speaker Martin Danggo, who resigned from the Congress and joined the NPP, lost to Pius Marweiñ of the United Democratic Party (UDP) in Ranikor constituency.
The by-election in South Tura was necessitated after Agatha Sangma resigned to pave the way for her brother Conrad to contest in order to retain the the post of Chief Minister.
Conrad, the youngest son of the late Purno A. Sangma, defeated Charlotte W. Momin of the Congress by 8,421 votes in a four-cornered contest.
The NPP candidate secured 13,656 votes while Charlotte got 5,235 votes. Conrad, who was sworn as the 12th Chief Minister of Meghalaya on March 6, was a non-elected member to the 60-member assembly.
"I won because people voted for development," Conrad told IANS.
Conrad assumed the top post of Meghalaya, which is father had held for a short period, after the regional United Democratic Party (UDP), People's Democratic Front and Hill State People's Democratic Party (HSPDP) decided to support the NPP in forming the government on condition that a NPP leader would be the Chief Minister.
In Ranikor, Danggo, who had represented Ranikor constituency five consecutive times, lost to novice Pius Marweiñ of UDP by 2,896 votes.
Marweiñ polled 13,183 votes while Danggo bagged 10,287. People's Democratic Front candidate P.N. Syiem and Jackiush A. Sangma of the Congress secured 1,978 and 938 votes respectively.
Both the UDP and PDF are part of the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance coalition government. With this victory, the NPP and UDP have increased their strength to 20 and eight respectively in the 60-member Meghalaya assembly.
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Maharashtra sets up state vaccination task force to strengthen immunisation programme
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has set up a State Vaccination Task Force to strengthen the regular immunisation programme and review the progress of related campaigns, a health department official said on Monday.
The State Vaccination Task Force will comprise at least 29 members and will be headed by the administrative head of the health department, he informed.
The government has also constituted separate district-level and municipal vaccination task forces to improve implementation and address challenges at the grassroots level, he said.
Municipal task forces, chaired by respective civic commissioners, have been constituted in view of the vast urban population in Maharashtra and the role of civic bodies in implementing different health programmes.
The district-level task forces will function under the chairmanship of collectors.
"Complete immunisation of children at the appropriate age is an extremely simple, cost-effective and highly effective measure to reduce child mortality and the prevalence of diseases among kids. Immunisation is a powerful tool for reducing illness in children," maintained the official.
To ensure full vaccination of all children, the state government implements various campaigns from time to time as per the central government guidelines, he pointed out.
"Active participation and cooperation of other relevant government departments are essential (in making these campaigns successful)," according to the official.
The state-level body will review the regular immunisation programme, associated campaigns and vaccine-preventable diseases in detail. It will also conduct focused assessments of high-risk districts and municipal corporations, including vacancies at district, municipal and sub-district levels, availability of cold chain equipment, resource gaps and training requirements, he noted.
The state task force will review allocation and utilisation of funds for immunisation and ensure timely action by officers concerned based on reports from district and municipal task forces and state-level monitoring mechanisms, the official said.
It will also ensure active coordination and participation of other government departments in immunisation drives, while district and municipal task forces will carry out similar functions at their respective levels, the official added.
